First Forever: Charm Capture Inaugural WLL Championship

CHESTER, Pa. — Seconds after Jenika Cuocco corralled one final save, the Maryland Charm celebrated the inaugural Women’s Lacrosse League championship.

Cuocco made nine saves in the second half after Caylee Waters made eight saves in the first half to backstop a huge defensive showing that paired with an unselfish offensive effort, highlighted by MVP Sydni Black, for a 16-13 win over the California Palms at Subaru Park just outside Philadelphia.

“We’re going to be first forever,” Black said. “I’m so proud of this team.”

Black had four goals, the last on an ankle-breaking move against Emily Nalls, one of the best defenders in the world, Ashley Humphrey dished out four assists and Cassidy Spilis and Alex Holman each had hat tricks. Brigid Duffy scored twice with two assists, Ally Kennedy had a pair of goals and Sam Apuzzo had two assists to make their March championship prediction from Kennedy and Waters a reality.

“Sometimes you get a gut feeling about things,” Kennedy said. “And I know how bad I wanted it, I know how bad she wanted it, I know how bad [Black] wanted it.”

Taylor Moreno made 15 saves and seemed sharper each quarter for the Palms, while Anna Brandt led California with four goals and Ally Mastroianni and Emma LoPinto had three goals apiece. The Palms had hoped to avenge their 18-17 overtime loss to Maryland in the regular season.

“We care so deeply about each other and this opportunity; we worked so hard to get here,” Mastroianni said. “They played a great game, but I do think we beat ourselves. We had a game plan and took us a little too long to stick to it. But I’m really proud of us, proud of our journey.”

Black was tough for the Palms to stop in their regular-season meeting when she had five goals. She was just as good in the championship game. California chose not to change its matchups from the first meeting.

“I think there was a calmness across all of us, because when you’re playing next to the world MVP, a two-time World Cup winner, national champions, you have a lot less pressure on you personally,” Black said. “I think that just having each other’s backs, we knew we were going to get it done. I mean, mentally all day I was already visualizing winning, holding the trophy with my teammates.”

The title game festivities kicked off with Tina Sloan Green being introduced to the crowd. WLL’s leadership award is being named after Green, the Hall of Fame coach who led nearby Temple to three national titles and was the first Black head coach in women’s intercollegiate lacrosse.

“To honor her legacy and to be able to do it in the area that she actually carved her own legacy with Temple and everything around here is incredible,” Black said.

Humphrey and the Charm led the WLL in assists during the season, and their offensive unselfishness helped key a fast start. Six of their first nine goals were assisted. Humphrey had three assists and Duffy had both of hers as Maryland jumped out to a 9-7 halftime lead after a short-lived deficit.

“If you look across the stat sheet, it was loaded,” Kennedy said. “I don’t know how many people scored, how many people contributed. It doesn’t matter. It was any moment someone needed to step up, they did their job.”

Ellie Masera got the Palms on the scoreboard first with a whip of a shot while rolling right. Duffy answered right back for the Charm, and they never trailed again.

“It’s just a sense of belief that all of us had in each other,” Holman said. “I think the amount of confidence that your teammates can give you and just constantly having each other’s backs, we never wavered.”

The Charm held the Palms to a season-low 13 goals. They’d never been held under 16 goals and were coming off a 21-goal eruption against Boston in the regular season. Abby Bosco was tough on LoPinto and had a caused turnover and five ground balls, and Grace Griffin had three ground balls and made her presence known.

“She really stepped up for us in moments that we needed it,” Charm head coach Emily Parros said. “But across the board, it was a collective unit job from goalies to our middies.”

Parros was lauded for keeping the same two-goalie system that had worked all year. It was one way to keep the championship game feeling no bigger than any other game. It worked again with Waters and Cuocco both playing well in key stretches to preserve Maryland leads.

“You can’t have a two-goalie system without leadership,” Parros said. “And that is a testament to Caylee through and through. She has led this team not just through Jenika, but everybody. She’s our emotional leader. And when you hear the passion in which she speaks with and how she will go to bat for her teammates and when it’s not about her, she puts them at the forefront. And if you don’t have that, you can’t have the two-goalie system.”

Livy Rosenzweig helped the Charm win four of the first five draw controls and was 7-for-11 in the first quarter as Maryland built a three-goal edge. She was 10-for-16 in the first half. Midway through the first quarter, the Palms moved Mastroianni out to the circle and had Sammy Jo Adelsberger take the draw with more success, going 6-for-12 in the first half. She ended up 8-for-15 and Mastroianni finished 7-for-14.

Black bounced in a goal midway through the first quarter to give the Charm their first lead of the game. Humphrey fed Spilis at the doorstep for a power play goal and a 3-1 Maryland lead. After Humphrey set up another easy finish, this one by Holman for a 4-2 lead for the Charm, Brandt’s quick tally cut the Palms deficit back to 4-3, but Maryland scored the next three goals.

Black notched her second goal of the game, another unselfish feed from Humphrey was finished by Spilis for her second score of the game, and then Duffy’s second goal on a power play gave Maryland a 7-3 lead. Sam Geiersbach cut the Maryland momentum with a goal with one second left in the first quarter.

Both teams’ goalies were outstanding in the second quarter. Waters started the quarter with two big saves, and Black’s goal gave her a hat trick and Maryland an 8-4 lead. Only a pair of ridiculous saves by Moreno kept it that close midway through the quarter. Duffy’s well-placed pass found Spilis for her third goal of the game and a 9-4 edge.

The Palms responded with their best stretch of the first half with three straight goals to go into halftime trailing 9-7. Masera finally solved Waters again with a high bouncer for California’s first second-quarter goal. Black hit a post, and Mastroianni deposited her second goal. Another big save by Moreno kept Maryland off the board. LoPinto scored California’s third goal in a row from Geiersbach with 7.2 seconds left before the half.

Waters made eight saves for the Charm in the first half and Maryland had a two-goal lead, but she gave way to Cuocco for the second half.

“It’s worked,” Waters said. “I think it’s part of what’s gotten us here. And I knew that Jenika could get the job done, too. I’m just playing the first half, and I get to just soak that in and give it my all and see what happens and do my job the best that I can do. And it’s unique and it’s special. And then it’s just easy to support Jenika from the get-down. I love the way she approaches the game.”

California inched closer when Brandt opened the second half scoring on her first shot attempt of the third quarter to make it 9-8. The Charm kept their edge only for a minute and a half longer before Brandt snuck another shot by Cuocco to tie it at 9 with the fifth unanswered goal for California.

The Charm went ahead when Humphrey fed Kennedy in front of the cage for the go-ahead goal for Maryland. A penalty to Spilis on the next possession gave California a power play of its own, but Cuocco turned away Masera’s shot. At the other end, Black’s quick jitterbug move sent Nalls to the ground, and she scored her fourth of the game. The move drew the biggest reaction of the day from the crowd.

“She had my number a lot of the day today, too, so as a dodger, you just have to always be ready,” Black said. “You can’t get too high, can’t get too low. I just didn’t know which way she was going to hit me, over or under.”

Rosenzweig won the ensuring draw and scored it herself for a 12-9 advantage. Brandt continued to spark the California offense, providing the first goal of the fourth quarter to trim the Palms’ disadvantage to two. The Palms cut it to one on LoPinto’s nice catch and score off Masera’s feed with almost 11 minutes to play, but they’d never get closer.

Cuocco made four saves in a row to keep the Charm ahead, and Apuzzo made a great pass to Holman for her second goal and a two-goal edge. It lasted eight seconds before Mastroianni scooped up the draw control and went down and scored to finish her hat trick. Her next attempt to tie the score bounced wide.

“Our message the whole time was not letting the game get too big and not letting us be outcome-focused,” Holman said. “It was just zeroing back in, to be honest.”

A key turnover on their own end hurt the Palms’ comeback chances and was magnified when Holman converted her third goal of the game off Spilis’ pass. The Palms missed a shot that could have cut it to a one-goal game, and Erica Evans powered her way in at the other end for just her third goal all season to again give Maryland a three-goal edge with only 3:28 left.

The Charm defense got a shot-clock violation with 2:05 left, and Kennedy’s second goal of the game with 1:05 left felt like the title clincher. LoPinto’s goal off a turnover came too late to spark a final California run, and Maryland came away with history.

“This is a great game, a huge game,” Kennedy said. “I hope people all across the country were watching and became lacrosse fans and fell in love with the Charm.”